|
|
|
Gibson settlement with ex to be discussed in court
Court Feed News |
2011/08/31 11:34
|
A judge is scheduled to discuss financial details of a settlement between Mel Gibson and his ex-girlfriend in a long-running custody dispute over their young daughter.
Both the Oscar winner and Russian musician Oksana Grigorieva are expected to appear in a Los Angeles courtroom Wednesday where final issues of their agreement will be handled.
Court officials say Superior Court Judge Peter Lichtman will handle financial issues in open court, but details about the former couple's custody arrangements will be closed to the public.
The actor-director and his ex-girlfriend have been fighting for more than a year, and her allegations of domestic abuse prompted a criminal case against Gibson. He pleaded no contest to domestic battery earlier this year without acknowledging any wrongdoing. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Court to hear appeal over medicating Loughner
Court Feed News |
2011/08/30 16:07
|
A federal appeals court will hear arguments Tuesday over a request to permanently ban prison officials from forcibly medicating the Tucson shooting rampage suspect with psychotropic drugs.
At issue in Jared Lee Loughner's appeal before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal is whether prison officials or a judge should decide whether a mentally ill person who poses a danger in prison should be forcibly medicated.
Prosecutors say the decision is for prison officials to make, while Loughner's lawyers say it's up to a judge.
Loughner has pleaded not guilty to 49 charges in the Jan. 8 shooting that killed six people and wounded 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
He has been at a federal prison facility in Springfield, Mo., since late May after mental health experts determined he suffers from schizophrenia and a judge ruled him mentally unfit to stand trial. He was sent to the facility in a bid to restore his mental competency so he can assist in his legal defense.
Loughner was forcibly medicated from June 21 to July 1 after prison doctors concluded that he was a danger. His attorneys appealed U.S. District Judge Larry Burns' ruling that said Loughner could be forcibly medicated in prison. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Del. pediatrician gets life for abusing patients
Court Feed News |
2011/08/26 17:00
|
A Delaware pediatrician convicted of sexually abusing scores of young patients over more than a decade was sentenced Friday to life in prison.
Earl Bradley showed no emotion as a judge sentenced him to 14 life sentences for 14 counts of first-degree rape. Bradley was also sentenced to 165 years for multiple counts of assault and continuous sexual exploitation of a child.
Bradley was arrested in Dec. 2009 after a 2-year-old girl complained to her mother after an office visit that the doctor had hurt her.
Investigators searched his office complex, decorated with Disney characters and miniature amusement park rides, and seized dozens of homemade videos.
Bradley's public defenders presented no defense at his trial, opting instead for a swift verdict so they could more quickly appeal the judge's decision to allow the videos as evidence. The defense contends they were improperly seized by investigators acting outside the scope of their search warrant. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
NJ court orders changes to witness ID evidence
Court Feed News |
2011/08/24 15:39
|
New Jersey's highest court has ordered changes to the way eyewitness identifications are used in court, saying the current system is not reliable enough. The state Supreme Court found that the current process doesn't deter police misconduct and overstates the jury's ability to evaluate identification evidence. Currently, a defendant has the burden of proving there was undue suggestion during the identification process. That will stay the same. But the court on Wednesday ordered a pretrial hearing when a defendant can show some evidence of suggestiveness by police. The court also says juries should hear a better explanation of the potential flaws with eyewitness identifications. The new rules will apply to future cases. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mo. woman pleads guilty in exported vehicle scheme
Court Feed News |
2011/08/24 11:39
|
A Missouri woman who prosecutors say played a central role in a scheme to buy more than 300 vehicles with phony titles and improperly export them has pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud.
Patrice Robertson pleaded guilty Tuesday as part of a plea agreement. She ran the vehicle brokerage in Chillicothe, Mo., that improperly bought the vehicles for export.
Earlier this month, a former Omaha car salesman and the owner of a Kansas trucking company were both charged with 11 counts of wire fraud and one conspiracy charge.
Authorities say the three purchased roughly 342 vehicles fraudulently from at least six different dealerships in Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and Ohio.
The Nebraska State Patrol launched the investigation in 2006 after several Hummers ostensibly to local buyers weren't registered in the state. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Somali gets life in prison for US yacht hijacking
Court Feed News |
2011/08/22 12:19
|
A federal judge has sentenced a Somali man to life in prison for his role in the hijacking of yacht that left all four Americans on board dead.
Ali Abdi Mohamed is the first to be sentenced of 11 men who pleaded guilty to piracy in the case. Mohamed expressed remorse before he was sentenced on Monday and said it was never his intent for anyone to get hurt. He says he hopes the victims' families forgive him.
The owners of the Quest, Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey, Calif., along with friends Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay of Seattle, were shot to death in February several days after being taken hostage several hundred miles south of Oman. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Recent Lawyer News Updates |
|
|
Lawyer News RSS
